A New Emphasis on Populism

President Obama gestures while speaking about the economy, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011, at Osawatomie High School in Osawatomie, Kansas. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

On this day — President Obama bangs the drum of populism; Newt Gingrich extends his lead in Iowa; Mitt Romney starts to gear up to go negative; Rick Perry slams new efforts to use foreign aid to stop abuses of gays and lesbians; and Jon Stewart declares war on Christmas

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The Drumbeat of Populism

In terms of policy detail, President Barack Obama’s speech in Kansas yesterday really wasn’t terribly remarkable for anything other than its tone. The speech highlighted the president’s increasingly populist rhetoric as he heads into what will probably be a difficult re-election campaign that will be dominated by voter concern about the economy. The Washington Post reports:

Obama, in a 55-minute address, moved beyond the specifics of his recent jobs proposals to issue a searing indictment of Republican economic theory, framing the debate as one of right and wrong, fairness and unfairness.

“This is the defining issue of our time,” Obama said before a crowd of 1,200 in the Osawatomie High School gymnasium. “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement.”

The speech comes at a moment when a new populist strain seems to be bubbling through the national political debate at many levels of government, from city halls to statehouses to Washington.

This focus on fairness is part of a broader Democratic messaging strategy aimed at turning the economic debate in 2012 from one that asks the question “are you better off than you were four years” to one focused on inequality and how how entrenched (Republican) interests are doing everything to widen the gap between the haves and have nots.

“The number one fact of our political economy for the last decade is declining middle class incomes,” New York Senator — and Democratic message guru — Chuck Schumer told the Plum Line’s Greg Sargent recently. “When the American Dream is no longer a virtual certainty to most Americans, it becomes a different country…Inequality is a driving issue. What highlights inequality is middle class incomes declining.”

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Gingrich is Gaining Ground in Iowa

With the Iowa caucuses just a month away, a fourth poll (CBS News/New York Times) of likely caucus goers puts new-found frontrunner Newt Gingrich far ahead of the rest of his Republican competition: Gingrich has the support of 31 percent, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are virtually tied for second place with 17 and 16 percent respectively. In a bit of good news for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, he polled at 11 percent, making this the second poll this week that has shown him with double digit support.

The voters who will render the first judgment on the Republican field have been carefully following the race — 7 in 10 say they have watched recent televised debates — and appear unified around the pursuit of beating Mr. Obama. Of the nearly 4 in 10 likely caucusgoers who say they get most of their information from Fox News, Mr. Gingrich is the overwhelming choice.

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More from the CBS/NYT Poll

Initially, the Romney campaign sought to blunt/slow Gingrich’s rise by portraying him as a career politician. That line of attack hasn’t had much success because after a couple of years of rampant anti-anything with Washington ties sentiment in the Republican Party, Iowa Republicans are supporting Newt because of his political experience in the 1990s. Here’s some more from the NYTimes story:

The rise of Mr. Gingrich comes after a year in which a forceful anti-Washington sentiment has driven the agenda of the Republican Party. A leading attribute cited in interviews with voters here is his deep experience in Washington. He does better among those who say candidates should only be judged based on their political record — he is supported by 39 percent of those voters — but among those who say candidates should also judged on their personal life, he gets 27 percent support.

For now, Mr. Gingrich’s three marriages and some of the moderate positions he has taken do not appear to be dragging down his candidacy. But a variety of polls released here this week solidifies his role as the front-runner, and it remains an open question how prepared his campaign is to defend him as scrutiny increases over all aspects of his long public record.

Politico reports that Romney has been forced to retool his message in Iowa and New Hampshire against Newt Gingrich in the hope of finding something that can resonate:

“I’ve still got about seven more days of fundraising, and then we get to spend almost all of our time politicking in New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina, Florida, a couple other states,” Romney told reporters here.

He also said that he was abandoning his media cocoon and planned to do more interviews in coming days.

“With regards to media, you’re going to see me on a lot more shows than I’ve been on in the last several months,” Romney said.

And with Gingrich appearing formidable in Iowa, the former Massachusetts governor predicted a drawn-out battle for the GOP nod.

- The Washington Post reports that Gingrich’s efforts to rebuild his campaign’s infrastructure after a surge in popularity have been stymied by his earlier debts and spending.

However, ABC News reports that Perry’s comments went much further than many would have expected, condemning the policy as one that is “not in America’s interests,” said it showcases the administration’s “war on traditional American values,” and “President Obama has again mistaken America’s tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles.”

The effectiveness of Perry’s new anti-gay messaging push with evangelicals is questionable — CBS/NYT poll found that the majority of evangelicals who plan on attending the caucus believe the economy is the most important issue in the campaign, while only 25 percent identified social issues.

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‘The (Visual) Clips’

- The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart actually declared war on Christmas (using a series of terrible/terribly funny Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan impressions) so FOX News would actually have something to fight this holiday season.

- The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake wonder if Donald Trump actually matters in Republican politics. I reflexively answer no out of fear of what a ‘yes’ answer might portend for democracy.